Climbing for Confidence: How NICAS Transforms Young Lives

Universal Children’s Day, on November 20th each year, is a chance to celebrate the incredible potential of children and young people everywhere and emphasise the importance of their rights to play, grow, and thrive in safe, inclusive environments. Climbing offers a unique opportunity to support these values, and can foster resilience, confidence, and a sense of belonging among children of all backgrounds and abilities.

At Adventure Dolphin, one of our accredited centres based in Pangbourne near Reading, the transformative impact of climbing is clear. Like NICAS, Adventure Dolphin is also a registered charity; their aim being to provide young people and adults in Berkshire with the opportunity to experience adventure sports such as climbing. 

Gerry Wigglesworth, NICAS Course Director at The Dolphin Centre, has been a dedicated supporter of NICAS for many years. Here she shares her perspective as a coach:

Young climbers can feel a range of emotions including nervousness or anxiety, or they could be filled with excitement or anticipation. As a coach, I feel I can help young climbers deal with this range of emotional challenges while working through the NICAS syllabus. It stands them in good stead for any challenges that life may throw at them in the future.

By talking and building trust with the young climbers, I can observe their reactions and help create events and experiences that gift young climbers to feel positive about themselves and their achievements.

The syllabus for NICAS has given me, as a coach, stepping stones to facilitate this above development. Our young climbers experience the following:

• Feeling part of something as they progress through the scheme
• Building new friendships and sharing personal challenges with each other
• Developing an ability to deal with changes by problem solving
• Receiving guidance and encouragement so they feel good, raising their self-esteem and self-worth – accomplishment mixed with pride and happiness

NICAS helps young climbers focus on what they can control, and ignore what they can’t control, therefore developing commitment and facilitating both psychological and emotional skills.

NICAS is above all fun and enjoyable – and often humorous – while at the same time building safe climbing skills for life.

As a coach, I have seen the return of past climbers to our wall. They have come back and wish to help in our sessions. These maturing climbers have the confidence to go on and aim to become our next generation of coaches themselves. They are motivated to give back to the next generation of climbers, and it all started with the NICAS Climbing Level 1 syllabus. Amy is one of our returning climbers and this is her story below.

Over the years, Gerry has watched Amy begin her climbing journey as a child, grow in confidence through the NICAS scheme, and then return to inspire and guide the next generation of climbers:

I started NICAS when I was 8, and ever since have fallen in love with climbing. The encouragement and support from the coaches was outstanding, and I stayed with the Dolphin Centre long after I completed my NICAS Climbing Level 2. Climbing for me has always brought me closer to my friends and been a challenge that we can work on together.

Volunteering on NICAS sessions has been extremely rewarding as I have been able to grow confidence in young climbers, and excite them in the joy of climbing. Seeing the progression from week to week has been motivating and really demonstrates the strength of the NICAS scheme.

For the team here at NICAS, hearing Gerry’s and Amy’s perspectives is incredibly heartwarming, and we would like to thank them both for sharing their inspiring stories and experiences. 

This Universal Children’s Day, we celebrate climbing as a powerful tool for fostering confidence, communication, and resilience in young people. NICAS is dedicated to supporting every child’s journey to explore, play, and pursue their potential, at the wall and in the wider world. 

Further info

• Adventure Dolphin
• UN: World Children’s Day
• UNICEF: World Children’s Day Resources
• Play Their Way: empowering coaches to adopt a child-first approach to coaching